Essential CVS

Sandboxes and Repositories

A sandbox is a local copy of a project’s files, used to make changes and test work. Each developer should work from her own sandbox on a computer that is convenient to her.

The CVS repository contains the master copies of a project’s files and their full histories. The repository may be on the same machine as the sandbox or on a remote machine accessed across a network. The repository is explained more fully in Chapter 6.

Every directory in the sandbox contains a CVS subdirectory. This directory has several files; the most important are Root, Repository, and Entries. The Root file contains the path to the sandbox’s repository, the Repository file contains the subpath within the repository that leads to the directory in question, and the Entries file holds metadata about the files in the directory. The CVS subdirectory is explained more fully in Chapter 6.

Permissions and Ownership

Files lose their permissions when they are transferred to the repository. CVS normally will check out files with read and write permissions, but it can be configured to check them out as read-only. The person who checks a file out into the sandbox becomes the file’s owner.

CVS works on many operating systems, each of which has its own way of recording ownership of files. The repository might not be on the same machine or have the same operating system as the sandbox. These circumstances may cause files to lose their ownerships and group memberships when the files are transferred ...